Comfort and Peace in the Storm

I’m continuing my blog series about these two furry grand-dogs that I’m keeping while my children are away. It’s Sunday morning and I get a wake-up call, rather a wake-up barking at 4:30 am from Emma, the Yorkie. I’m not a happy camper. Who wants to be awakened by a barking alarm? My sleep is very important to me because I get so little of it. So the little I get doesn't want to be disturbed. I prance into my granddaughter’s bedroom where Emma sleeps and I shoosh her. I get back to my room and determine to get just a few more minutes of shut-eye, then I hear thunder bellowing loudly. Aw! So that’s why Emma is barking. She is afraid. I go pick her up and bring her to my bed. She snuggles in closely to me. She is comforted. She is at peace because I represent peace and comfort to her.

Rarely do I veer off-course from my life experiences in my blogs. That’s on purpose. St. Paul said, in 2 Corinthians 1:4 "That you may be comforted with the same comfort that I have been comforted with." And, indeed, that is my desire to bring comfort – not to just a furry friend, but to comfort others with the many times of comfort that I have been comforted with during my own “thunderous, stormy and difficult times. I want to help others learn their lessons.....much faster than I do.

I found that when the storms come, it’s our nature to get worried –- like little Emma. She doesn’t understand loud thunder. And, maybe we don’t either. Oftentimes, praying and seeking God for the answer is the last thing we do to escape our storms. "Well, I've tried everything else.....so as a last resort, I'll ask God for help!" We do our best to try to figure it all out, when He Who knows everything about everything has it all figured out. He is just waiting for us to cry out to Him for the answers.

The disciples knew Jesus was on the mountain praying. They discounted the fact that He was the authentic, unparalleled storm chaser and peace maker. They toiled and feared in their boat on the stormy waters, but Christ was praying on the mountainside for them because He saw the storm come up and He saw their fear. And we should realize that He sees and knows the storms we're going through and He is hearing our prayers in the midst of OUR storms.

Little Emma snuggles in close to me and even as I type this blog this early Sunday morning, she sleeps on, and, in fact -- snoring. If my tender heart cares for the concerns of this little dog, how much more does our loving Heavenly Father care about us? He is always inviting us to “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) We can know this: There is no difficulty in life that is stronger than Jesus. We can snuggle in close to Him and face our difficult times with courage because He promised to ALWAYS be with us! I love knowing that His peace is ours during our storms....and how reassuring to know that right behind this storm is a rainbow of blessing! He promised it, and I've come to count on it!

The Morning's Blaze of Glory

I don’t think we were ever so grateful for Easter to arrive as we were this year. At least that's how I felt about the new hope that comes with the resurrection of our Lord. And, what a declaration was made when a downpour of rain came and knock-me-outta’-my-bed-thunder and lightning early morning. I thought: "God, is that You echoing the sounds of the morning of Your beloved Son's resurrection when the earthquake rolled away the stone from His tomb? And, then You accentuate the 'great escape' when I see the sun breaking through the clouds in splendor as I drive to my children’s home for Easter breakfast?" The dismal, dark skies broke through like a blaze of glory -- maybe like Jesus broke through on that Resurrection morning!

Immediately, I started thinking about another Gospel song by the Gaither’s with Guy Penrod singing these words:
“Then came the morning, night turned into day
The stone was rolled away. Hope rose with the dawn
Then came the morning. Shadows vanished before the sun.
Death had lost and life had won, for morning had come."

I googled the song to listen to those inspiring words again. These lines touched me as much as the Christmas song, “Mary, did you know?” These words speak to her heart once again:
"The angel, the star, the kings from afar,
the wedding, the water, the wine.
Now it was done, they'd taken her Son, wasted before His time.
She knew it was true, she'd watched Him die too
She'd heard them call Him just a man.
But deep in her heart, she knew from the start
Somehow her Son would live again. Then came the morning…"

That was yesterday. This is the day after THAT never-to-be-surpassed morning. The plastic eggs are put away, the Easter meal left-overs are in the fridge. But, our new normal may be to leave up the palms, the crosses, and red ribbons. We’re not ready to put away the exhilaration that comes from our Savior coming back to life. Imagine what Easter Sunday was like. I mean, wow. It must have been a blaze of glory.

But, that blaze of glory wasn't temporary. It ignited a movement -- a spiritual, proactive, action-driven movement of discipleship. It was a movement of “let's change the world". And that mandate and movement is now passed on to you and me. We don’t need a microphone or a platform to share the good news. We just share it in our homes, our neighborhood, and the marketplace. Yes, we're the ones with the palms and crosses on our doors or in our yards. We're the ones that blog, post a comment about our Lord's love. We listen for His voice. We stand to our feet. We follow where He leads. And, we tell any and every one that will listen: “This is the God who loves us so much HE gave us His best." This is the God who sends us.” Everything changed THAT morning! A blaze of glory was ignited. Are we catching the flame to go and BE the followers who proclaim our resurrected Lord and Savior?

For Holy Easter chills, listen to Guy Penrod and the Gaithers sing this exhilarating song of morning glory:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGjfF31zB24

Is God Sleeping or Wide Awake on Your Boat?

This may or may not be my last post related to fishing. The inspiration just keeps coming! It was Wednesday, May 29th, and we heard it was supposed to rain all day, starting at 7 am. Staci, fisher-woman extraordinaire, announced the night before, "If we’re down at the river by 6 am (sun-up), we’ll get in at least an hour of fishing before it starts. And, so, it was. We showed up at 6 am and at 7 am, no rain; 8 am to 2 pm – still no rain. It was an entire morning of hauling in loads of fish and, to boot, it was a morning of helping a young boy and his mom learn how to fish for trout. For lunch, we made a campfire and roasted hot dogs on dry tree limbs and logs. Thank you, God, for the “little things” – keeping the rain away for us to enjoy this morning. We were satisfied with our full morning and some of the afternoon. Go ahead, God, let it rain!

THEN, torrential rain came which made for great afternoon naps! All of us! By the way, we didn’t have access to wifi at our cabin so we weren’t aware of anything other than a good old downpour and thunder that makes for great snoozing! We all woke up when our electricity went out at 5 pm. Fortunately, we took plenty of flashlights and candles. Our plans for baking our lasagna were spoiled so we had sandwiches, guacamole, salsa, and chips. .Yummy -- no complaints! And, while the thunder rolled, lightning flashed, winds howled, and rain pounded on the roof, we, in our serendipity world….played cards – expecting any minute for the electricity to be restored.

The rain stopped. Larry and Staci and the kids headed out to see when our electricity would be restored because, by now, we started thinking about our refrigerator getting warm and the haul of food we had in there could be in jeopardy. The Park Ranger declared “There’s no electricity between here and Texas – we were just hit by a tornado! There is damage all around the park – trees down, RV’s damaged." WHAT??? And we weren’t warned?? Supposedly, the Park Rangers had been on their air horns announcing imminent danger – but again, in our little calm and peaceful “boat” – we were completely secure knowing Jesus was on board. It never entered our minds that there had been a potential danger.

On the other hand, what good would it have been to have known and been worried and concerned? We didn’t know and we played games, slept, ate and made it through the storm just fine. When we implicitly place our trust in He Who is on board our "life" boat – we can be at peace in any storm -- in the natural, and in our spirits.

I sincerely believe that when we place our faith in our Father, stay closely knit to Him through all phases of life, He will keep us calm in the storms when we live by Psalm 91:1 (911 - our emergency number) "Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

Remember Jesus, His disciples and their "boat" story in Mark 4:38-40? "But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?”

God is looking out for His kids -- let's let Him!

We Believe!

We Believe!
We love our OKC Thunder basketball team and they had a great season this year, but the Golden State Warriors are having an even better season. The Thunder fell one game short of making it to the NBA Finals because of the Warriors, but there's always next year for a rebound!
We Believe!

Speaking of rebound, the rebound of the Golden State Warriors is worth a FB post today. And, it's all because of their willingness to make a commitment to change AND put in the work to make it happen. I read that the Warriors are in the midst of a record-setting season with 73 regular season wins that broke the NBA record previously held by the Chicago Bulls.

But the backdrop to this acclaim is what impressed me. This success didn't happen overnight. They started planting seeds for this current winning streak way back in 2006. They called it the “We Believe” season. Leading up to that season, the franchise broke the NBA record for the number of consecutive years WITHOUT making the playoffs (12). Head coach Don Nelson traded most of their big-name players for a motley crew of journeyman and misfits to play “small ball,” a strategy that favors increased scoring, agility and speed over height, strength and low post offense and defense.

Nelson decided to create a fun, fast-paced style of play designed so that players were interchangeable parts. The entire team rallied, highlighting each other’s strengths while also having fun playing a game they love. The result was astounding and marked a turnaround that led to an improbable playoff run, which shocked fans and experts.

The “We Believe” season not only revitalized the franchise, but also its fan base. The Warriors' fans are known to be the most supportive and vibrant fan base in the league. Why? It’s simple—the franchise has transformed their failure into success. Fans love cheering for a team that plays the game with joy, passion and celebrates each other’s success each and every game.

Maybe you belong to a motley crew or a dysfunctional team of misfits ('er....family) and you can relate to needing a revitalization of joy, passion and celebration. Maybe there's something we can learn from the idea of highlighting each other's strengths. Maybe we need that "WE BELIEVE" mantra. What if in our families, our businesses, our schools and our support groups, we accentuated the positives of those around us and celebrated each other's talents, abilities and strengths and then in the midst of getting the jobs done, whether it's coming together to clean the house or garage, to have team meetings that celebrate our co-workers, to encourage the abilities of fellow members of clubs, and to create an environment for deliberate joy, passion and celebration? Just maybe we will become ONE with interchangeable parts that will rise to victory? Just maybe, WE BELIEVE will become WE ACHIEVED! Maybe all we need is just a little shift in our game plan, then our seasons will be record-breaking!

Learning to Dance in the Rain

When the storms of life come, it’s quite easy to nestle down all snug as a bug in a rug, and just wait for them to pass. After all, who wants to go outside when it’s lightning and thundering and the winds are blowing 90 miles an hour? It’s also quite easy to complain about the weather. In the winter – we complain about the cold, and in the summer we complain about the heat. Don’t you love it when you see little kids, completely CARE-FREE, bundling all up for winter fun, or running out, dancing and splashing in the rain? And, don’t you love it when little kids play in the summer – not paying any attention to the heat – so much so, that we have to remind them to put on sunscreen?

I’ve figured it out. Life isn’t about waiting for the storms to pass, or the winter or summer to pass – or STUFF that comes our way to pass. It’s about learning to enjoy the journey, whatever season it is, or whatever the weather might be -- and even while going through the storms of life. Then what is it about? It's about learning how to dance in the rain, in the storms of life and in the seasons of life.

I’ve been through some real downpours in the last few years, and this gal has become quite the accomplished “dancer”. I know how to bend, and not break; I know how to do the “quick step” and I know how to “slow dance”, and, best of all, I’ve learned to depend on my Dance Partner, and how to follow His “lead”. And in case you’re wondering who my Dance Partner is ----- He’s the ONE Who created the dance!!